


Tale As Old As Time

by dametokillfor



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Background Sara Lance/Amaya Jiwe, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 14:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11315526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dametokillfor/pseuds/dametokillfor
Summary: After his mother died in childbirth, giving birth to a sister he’ll never know, his father had turned cruel and cold. Leonard had followed suit, pulling an icy demeanour over him to hide the fact he was lost and afraid. Somewhere along the way he’d lost himself behind the mask, then the curse had happened and it had been far too easy to stay monstrous all those years.---xIn which Ray Palmer is the Beauty, and Leonard Snart is hopelessly in love.





	Tale As Old As Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a snippet of a Beauty and the Beast idea that struck me earlier tonight while I was having a lot of feelings about the films. I've gone with a mix of the two Disney films for backstory, because I can.
> 
> To avoid any confusion:  
> Jax is a candelabra, like Lumiere.  
> Stein is a clock, like Cogsworth.  
> Amaya is a bird feather duster, like '17 Plumette.  
> Sara is a brandy decanter, like Mrs Potts with more f bombs.  
> Nate is a vanity, because mirrors are shiny like steel.  
> Gideon is a wardrobe, like Garderobe. 
> 
> I haven't actually figured out what Cisco and Winn are, but I'm imagining the music as strings and piano. I'll let you figure those out yourself.

He’s not nervous.

He’s not.

He keeps repeating it in his head like a mantra, as Jefferson brushes through his fur, trying to tame the knots and wild curls. (He can smell burning, so he’s not certain the candelabra isn’t singing knots out).

Stein is sat on one arm of the chair Leonard is on, lecturing him on the correct way to woo Raymond, and Sara is on the other arm, ensuring everything the arrogant clock says is disputed. She’s being the most helpful, ensuring his glass remains topped up with brandy. 

Leonard is trying to focus on everything they’re saying, but his mind is stuck on Raymond agreeing to whatever tonight is supposed to be. Leonard knows what he wants from it, but he’s terrified. How do you tell someone that you like them? That you’re very fond of them? That you _love_ them? So much is hinging on Raymond saying it back, the last few petals are so close to falling, and he really needs to try.

He know Raymond is fond of him as well, but love seems impossible. Even if Leonard weren’t a hideous monster, a hulking form of matted fur, horns and vicious teeth, Raymond is so good and so pure. He deserves so much better than him. He deserves someone who didn’t kidnap him, didn’t threaten to eat his father, and didn’t lock him away. He’s beauty and sunlight, and Leonard has confined him to darkness and horror.

Nate is working on his make-up, trying to do something regal with the hideous face he’s been cursed with. It would probably be easier if the vanity was allowed to look at him, instead he shouts instructions as Amaya flits about his head, using her feathers to apply powder and blush.

“Et voila!” Nate announces, “Let me see!”

The chair is spun round allowing the vanity and Leonard to see what’s been done to him. Nate groans and starts ranting and raving, about light blushes and the powder being all wrong. Leonard is only half listening, he almost wants to laugh at the look on his face. The powder makes him look like he’s had flour thrown in his face, the red blush makes his sandy fur look orange, his red lips look bloody. Why did he rely so heavily on this as a human?

Nate continues raving, as Jefferson points out he was on the hair so it’s not his fault and Stein reminds them they’re all doomed.

Amaya flies to Leonard's shoulder and whispers quietly, “Worth it to get a smile out of you.”

A wet rag is unceremoniously thrown in his face by Stein, and Leonard scrubs away the make up. He makes sure to throw the rag back at Stein, who huffs and pulls it off. Leonard didn’t think a clock could look angry until Stein was transformed. He won’t even wear a pocket watch now, convinced they’re all glaring at him. Raymond finds it adorable. Of course he does.

Raymond is charmed by everything. It’s one of of the many things Leonard loves about him, and _oh_ there are many.

Raymond knows all the staff, has remembered all their names and makes sure to talk with them when he passes. He makes sure to help them with things their new forms make hard. Since he's been here, Nate and Sara are spotless and sparkling, as is Jefferson’s golden frame. Stein is wound - which took a little convincing. Amaya’s feathers are clean, and soft. 

Raymond has spent hours with Mick, their chef and stove, to create beautiful meals for him and Leonard to eat together. He’s fixed the many broken items around the castle, and turned the unfixable into magical new things. He’s been teaching Leonard and the young brandy glasses how to read. (Leonard appreciates that he’s been doing it at different times, so that his staff don’t know his secret shame.)

When Raymond looks at Leonard, it looks like he sees past the outside and to the soft centre Leonard didn’t know he still had.

After his mother died in childbirth, giving birth to a sister he’ll never know, his father had turned cruel and cold. Leonard had followed suit, pulling an icy demeanour over him to hide the fact he was lost and afraid. Somewhere along the way he’d lost himself behind the mask, then the curse had happened and it had been far too easy to stay monstrous all those years.

When Raymond had come along, suddenly the world had seemed less dark with this ray of sunshine floating around his castle, the ice covering the grounds less cold with his warmth by Leonard’s side.

And now Leonard is completely, impossibly in love with him and his fate, his family’s fate, relies on Raymond feeling the same way about him.

“Much better.” Nate’s voice is loud, and breaks Leonard out of his maudlin musings.

He does look better. His fur has been brushed, tamed into a braid and the fur around his face has been trimmed, and combed neatly. If it weren’t for the horns - which are shining - and the fangs, he’d almost look handsome. 

“You almost look like a prince again.” Sara tells him.

“Gideon has created an outfit for you,” Jefferson hops onto the floor, spinning round on his base, “Something dashing, something royal, something Raymond will be unable to resist you in.” 

Leonard gets to his feet and follows the candelabra to the bed, where a beautiful, deep blue suit, threaded with golden fibres lays out for him. He runs his large paw across the fabric, feeling the silken material. It’s been years since he’s worn anything nearly this grand, preferring to spend his time in the tattered rags of his old life as some kind of sick penance.

“We hope he won’t be able to resist you.” Stein says, pulling out his own pocket watch, “And you should dress quickly, Master. It won’t do good to keep him waiting.”

“You can’t rush perfection.” Jefferson says, hopping past Stein.

“You can and must when there are so few petals left.” Stein points out.

Leonard ignores the rest of their bickering, and looks back down at his suit. The weight of the night is settling heavily on his shoulders now. This could be his last chance, his staff, his _family,_ need him to get this right.

Amaya settles on his shoulder again, “Don’t think so hard. He is already halfway in love.” 

“How do you know?” Leonard asks, looking to her.

“I may be bone and feathers, but I can still see.” She flutters her feathers against his ear and floats off, chiding Jefferson and Stein for their childish behaviour.

“She’s right,” Sara hops up onto the bed, “ _Mon amoureuse_ is more observant than the rest of the fools in this castle. If she says it, you should believe it.”

Leonard smiles at Sara, and notices one of her glasses is full on the bedside table, just waiting for him should he need a little more courage. He chooses to ignore it, he doesn’t want a clouded head for this.

Sara smiles back, knowing exactly what he’s thinking, as she always has, and hops down to the floor, allowing him to dress in privacy. 

The suit fits like a glove, but Leonard still feels out of place. These clothes belong on someone grand, someone who deserves them, a true prince, not a disgraced royal. These clothes belong on someone beautiful, someone like Raymond. 

 _Raymond_.

Leonard knows that Gideon has been hard at work, crafting something as beautiful as Raymond himself for tonight, something that will make him look make him look even more ravishing than his simple leggings and shirt. Leonard doesn’t know how anything could make him more breathtaking, but he doesn’t doubt Gideon will manage.

Stein bounces into his bedroom, having been to check on progress across the other end of the tower, “Monsieur Raymond is ready for you.”

Leonard feels his heart skip a beat, and his stomach clench. He takes one look back at his servants, who are all smiling, Amaya has her feathers up in the air, crossed like fingers. He appreciates their belief in him, as he has very little in himself. 

Jefferson hops up behind him, lighting up one of his candle arms and waving it at him as a threat, “Go, go!” 

\---x 

Leonard reaches the end of the hallway and pauses. He can see a shadow in the doorway and already it’s nearly too much. He can hear the soft music playing below him, Francisco and Winslow ensuring the room is filled with even more romance.

As Raymond steps out of the shadow, and walks down the stairs towards the grand ballroom, Leonard has to remind himself how to walk. He makes his own way down, padding quietly down the stairs, all the while unable to take his eyes off the vision before him. 

His suit coat is a deep blue, not quite the same colour as Leonard’s, one all his own. There’s red detailing that shouldn’t fit and yet looks perfect. It frames his broad body in a way the loose shirts never had. His waistcoat is the same theme, a soft looking ruffled shirt below. His pants are the same deep blue, and his boots are shiny and black. (Leonard is secretly happy for the boots, the fancy buckled shoes aren’t Raymond.) 

The clothes are nothing compared to the smile on Raymond’s face though. Wide, open, yet somehow nervous as if he knows just what this means. (He can’t know, Leonard’s never told him about the rose, doesn’t want him to feel a sense of obligation towards them all). His face is fresh, clean of make-up, not that he would ever need to follow the fashion of the day. He looks young, unburdened, beautiful. 

Raymond runs his hand through his perfectly combed hair, and a few stray strands fall from the blue bow. Leonard fancies he can hear Jefferson huffing at all his hard work being ruined, but the messiness is so much more fitting of his Raymond.

“You look…” Leonard manages, unsure of how to finish the sentence, unsure as to whether a word strong enough exists to describe the beauty before him.

Raymond simply smiles sweetly back at him, “So do you.”

Raymond holds his arm out, and as Leonard mimics and takes Raymond’s hand, he doesn’t know how in God’s name he’ll ever be able to let go after tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> I _really_ love Beauty and the Beast. 
> 
> Come scream at me on [Tumblr](http://damnstevens.tumblr.com).


End file.
